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Sign – Episode 1

This is not a recap. It’s impossible for me to do so since I didn’t understand much.

However, I think so far, I like this one out of all 2011 new dramas. Then again, I still have to watch the first episode of My Princess before I make my final judgment.

The drama has an exciting start, with Yoon Ji Hoon (Park Shin Yang) racing through the halls of National Forensics Service, wheeling a body bag on a gurney. Then we see Jung Woo Jin (Uhm Ji Won) holding a search warrant (?) or a statement from the courts. Then we see Choi Yi Han (Jung Gyu Woon) getting beaten up by thugs. Then we see someone’s office getting trashed and searched.

Ji Hoon bangs right into Go Da Kyung (Kim Ah Joong) and yells at her to move, but she refuses, amazed he won’t apologize, thus forcing him to push her right into the operation room. In the room above, the director of NFS – Lee Myung Han (Jun Kwang Ryul) and a bunch of doctors loom over him and threateningly tell him to stop. Of course Ji Hoon refuses to listen and commences the surgery.

Then we snap right into a performance of a boy band and we meet our victim, 62 hours before. He’s the hottest idol in town – but he ends up dead under mysterious circumstances. Da Kyung comes in to photograph the crime scene, while Jung Woo Jin and Choi Yi Han interrogate the people close to him – including his manager, the stylist, and a fellow idol singer. They try to get the CCTV tapes, but for some reason (either it’s stolen, missing, or was never recorded) they can’t.

Then we see Myung Han in court, testifying evidence in regards to a certain case. The prosecutor (or defending lawyer – don’t know which) asks him about a certain piece of evidence and then calls in Yoon Ji Hoon to refute it. Well, it seems like he refutes it – either way, Myung Han’s pissed, and Ji Hoon is overacting but somewhat victorious. The rivalry is already drawn there.

Jung Byung Do (Song Jae Ho – last of Runaway Plan B as Chairman Yang) appears as a cuddly old mentor to Ji Hoon. Not entirely sure what his status is in NFS, but either way, he’s up there. He gives Ji Hoon the idol singer case, which brings him face to face with Da Kyung and her partner/mentor, played by Yoon Joo Sang (who played the coroner in IRIS). Off the bat, Da Kyung and Ji Hoon don’t get along. He proceeds with investigations, while Da Kyung goes back to investigate the scene of the crime.

While Yi Han investigates further the alibis of all the suspects, the stylist and the manager have a secret rendezvous (in a car in a garage, no less) and it looks like the two of them are to blame for the singer’s death…

Then a bunch of mumble jumble happens, and the next thing I know, Kim Eung Soo (who played Song Jae Ho’s son in Runaway Plan B) goes to speak with Woo Jin, and Myung Han is pulling Ji Hoon off the case. Of course, Ji Hoon ain’t happy, and he interrupts Woo Jin’s meeting with his mentor and pulls her out of the room. They have a nice yelling session, which I think shows how volatile their past relationship was.

Now we reach the beginning of the drama, where the body of the singer is undergoing an autopsy. A couple of other forensic scientists take out the body and bring it to Myung Han, who will perform it under the watchful eye of Woo Jin. However, when Myung Han unzips it, it’s an old woman! Aw hells yeah Ji Hoon – you don’t take no for an answer, do ya?

Commence chase through the halls of NFS, and they set up a lock down of the area to prevent Ji Hoon from getting far. He assigns Da Kyung to assist him, but she refuses, not knowing what to do. Ji Hoon gives her a pep talk – spurring her to want to find out how the kid died, and to help him find out. Cue dramatic music – and yes, she accepts.

Ji Hoon reaches for a scalpel and begins his analysis, with Da Kyung recording it on file. He slices into the kid’s chest – and seriously it’s all CSI and surgery, of which I then say “COOOOOOOOOL.” (Sorry, but dissection during bio class was my most favorite time in high school.) He takes out blood samples and organs, weighing them and saving for testing later on.

Woo Jin immediately acts, getting an access card from the head of security – probably wielding her power as a representative of the law or something – and marches towards the operation room. She gives Myung Han the card key, which Da Kyung notes urgently to Ji Hoon. But Ji Hoon is lost in contemplation, and he finally notices that the kid’s mouth is strangely open, a tooth missing.

As Myung Han heads to the operation room, Ji Hoon slices the throat. Myung Han enters the room and orders him to stop. Ji Hoon pulls out white fibers from the kid’s throat.

He declares the autopsy over. He proves that it’s a homicide.

DUN DUN DUN…although it’s not really a surprise because that’s what I always thought. Unless the Woo Jin and others have been pushing for the autopsy to be a case of accidental overdose or some other natural cause.

**

Lots of set up – and it shows that people in NFS are either very passionately angry, or passionately naive.

I haven’t really watched Park Shin Yang in anything – sure I’ve seen Lovers in Paris but only in stages, and most of the time when I was watching, he wasn’t talking. Funny huh? So when I watch him here, I don’t really know what to expect. All I can say is, he’s either an actor who over-acts, or his character is just ridiculous. Park plays him to a complete extreme – it’s all glares and yelling from him so far, which kinda annoys me because I just don’t get his deal. Therefore, I put him in the category of “passionately angry.”

Kim Ah Joong, on the other hand, I know can do comedy because of “200 Pounds Beauty.” She may also be overacting, but I don’t think she is for her character. Da Kyung seems to be of the “passionately naive” camp, because she’s wonderfully bright and passionate about her work. I kind of find her refreshing, especially when compared to the other two leads…

Uhm Ji Won – she’s mean. But she’s good. She has no effectively deleted horrible memories of her as Da Jung in Woman Who Still Wants To Marry. One thing I cannot get over is her hair – it’s ATROCIOUS. Actually – the women in this drama have pretty funky hairstyles – it’s either short boy cuts or obvious extensions (for Kim Ah Joong). Anyways – if she stays mean and cold hearted, I will love her character forever. Until I get the subs and see what bitchy things she’s saying. So she’s “passionately angry.”

Jung Gyu Woon, Jung Gyu Woon – my boy, you don’t have enough screen time. And the screen time that you do have, you make me torn because I can’t tell if you’re trying to replicate your character in Dr. Champ, or trying to go another way but still falling back to your Dr. Champ character. But anyways, he’s kinda funny because he’s a complete opposite of Woo Jin – while she’s severe, he’s laid back. During the interrogations, he’s watching videos that prove otherwise to the suspects’ statements, and he also has a look of complete disinterest. He’s “passionately naive” – or sorta like, “passionately chill.”

Jun Kwang Ryul – you make a formidable opponent to Park Shin Yang. Why? Because you know the beauty in restraint and controlled emotions.

There’s already the three stooges – or the three sidekick doctors that are setup as the gossipers and also the funny men. Of course they’re necessary to the drama – they will explain things to us or be bearers of information to other parties. “Passionately naive.”

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this drama. Honestly, I thought it was gonna be crappy. But then I saw that it’s ratings were slightly higher than that of My Princess, which surprised me. I’m betting that My Princess will win out in the end, unless it becomes Goong S. That leaves Sign to be the dark horse, and I think it really is one. It’s kinda unique in that I have never seen a criminal medical drama yet, and it does have a quick pace. It kinda petered out in the middle, but picks right back up when we circle back to the beginning of the episode.

I’m gonna stick to this drama. I don’t know if I’ll watch it weekly, but I will be watching.

2 thoughts on “Sign – Episode 1”

Daaaaayum. You got a post on Sign out already? Must’ve been interesting enough for you to write about it right afterwards. I can’t really read all of this post ’cause I have yet to watch the first episode but my interest is definitely piqued at the moment. We’ll see what happens. (and btw, My Princess was surprisingly cute. For me at least. ^^)